Some generally random photos I also took recently.

Trying to eke out the honeymoon pics a little bit, still have San Diego, Las Vegas to do and possibly some other transit pics - for another time!

This evening I was playing with some photos I took on a walk with friends in Monaghan - a Coillte property I think. We were on the Dartrey estate, and there seems to be plenty of scope for a return visit! The weather wasn't great so we just did an out and back walk, but I got a couple of interesting shots. Lovely bluebells too, but not as nice as in my local woods in Monasterevin of course!!

Kind of a grey day...


I loved this detail from a tree by the lake.


And the Rhododendrons were in bloom also, quite a few of them.






So that's a short post to round out the bank holiday weekend - a pretty busy one, with bloom on Saturday, entertaining family Sunday and doing some hardcore lazing today (though we did tidy up a little, honest) with the help of a Hitchcock movie as well as the movie Touching the Void.

This weekend has been finished off with some very tasty Dungarvan Black Rock Stout, very well put together. Tasting notes on the side (vanilla, aniseed) very helpful and seemed accurate to me. That'll go on the perennial list then too!

Oh, and busy Tuesday too - the talented students of the DIT photography school are opening their final year exhibition in Temple Bar, at the Gallery of Photography and the National Photography Archive - looking forward to seeing these! It's on now, and open for a couple of weeks - drop in and see and enjoy.

More info here! http://www.ditgraduatephotography.com/

Another day in Dublin...a lovely afternoon

I had to snap this photo - "no right turn" sign with an election poster for a strong left alternative beneath it!

It's great, how simple a day can be so enjoyable. We ordered rings for the wedding last week. They rang us this week, to say that they'd arrived, so onward we went. (hoping that we could meet some friends to watch the unfortunate rugby game, but one's foot, having been injected recently, was not up to the walking that would have required).

So, yeah. Parked. (BTW, the car park near Jurys' Christchurch has a €10 parking deal between 11am and 6pm, if anyone's interested). A bit peckish, so we found ourselves in the Porterhouse, having seen a menu (and don't tell anyone, but they advertised the Dungarvan Brew Co. Copper Coast Ale......). Interesting soup and a phenomenal all-day breakfast were enjoyed in the company of that Ale and a Kriek (cherry beer - try it!). The breakfast in there comprises ginormous sausages, yummy pudding, great scrambled egg, and lovely rashers, served with tomato, mushrooms and toast, in a frying pan. On a plate. Can't be beaten.

We soon ran out of brackets (only joking) and went to collect our rings (via some shoe shops. That was unsuccessful) - unfortunately, only one was available due to a miscommunication. Anyway. It fits, and is shiny. That is all that's required. :P



A quick wander around adjoining shoe shops, an unexpected bumping into with an aunt, and some coffee later, as well as some photo opportunity in TCD, brought another couple of hours to a close, though my foot was getting tired at this stage.





And the weather wasn't even great! Still, it was a mucho enjoyable afternoon.

By the way, there are still some great sales on....



Oh, and the Copper Coast? Another lovely beer from Waterford, you'd almost say it was a chocolatey and malty ale. Yummy, and moreish, and a definite recommendation, though maybe a step or 2 down in this blogger's list from the Helvick.

As for the Kriek. Who'd have thought cherry flavoured beer would work? Yet it does, it's light, drinkable and refreshing. Reminiscent of Belgian holidays, which helps!

Recent beer conquest.

After an enjoyable day (aside good things come in paper products: This includes fish, chips, icecream) shopping for wedding bands, I arrived home in need of refreshment. I took some beer out of the cellar (possibly the only upstairs cellar in Ireland) and popped it in the fridge for 2.3 minutes whilst I emptied the car (of more beer, and some other stuff.)

One of these beers was a Dungarvan Brewing Company Helvick Gold (I called it blond in the twitter, but that's cos it's a blond ale, and I'm easily confused) which has been making its way up the "to drink" list for a couple of weeks now.

In short - beautiful. A very drinkable ale, with a lovely refreshing, moreish mouthfeel. It does, as it says on the packet, have a lively fizzy head, but this doesn't come through when drinking it, just the right amount of carbonation for this drinker. Flavour wise, it sits very well on the yummy side of the fence, nicely hoppy, and as above, very moreish. Label suggests citrus and pine overtones - I haven't got the most educated palette in the world, but yeah, on reflection I can see where they come from. I would suggest overtones of a most enjoyable beer. Would imagine that a few of these would go very well with a barbecue!

This is going on the "if you see it, buy it" list.

Pros: Irish, tasty, refreshing.
Cons: Still can't get quality beer like this in the local offy.....

I should post more about beer.

Edit: Just browsing briefly this morning I saw that the Dungarvan Brewing Company won the "Best New Producer" award at the 2010 Blas na hEireann awards for this very beer. Well-deserved!